The Redemption 0f A Hunted Bride (Historical Western Romance)

by Clarice Mayfield

  He thinks I did the right thing? Hope was stunned and relieved at the same time and sent a silent prayer of gratitude to the heavens that Mr. Dalbow was so understanding. Then Hope reminded herself how sending Jessamine instead of her was not the end of her story.

  “That is just it,” she countered, getting slightly agitated. “Jessamine never wrote me back to recount your meeting, and by your reaction, I can only assume she never came here in the first place.”

  What could possibly delay her in such a manner? Hope wondered, and not for the first time.

  “You are absolutely correct, Miss Hope. You friend never came here. The day of our meeting came and went without any word from you,” he stopped as if to collect himself. “And I feared you changed your mind and decided to reject my offer. That is why I did not send any inquiries to you afterward.” There was a slight tremor in his voice as he confessed that and Hope truly felt bad for causing him distress.

  On the other hand, Hope was glad he did not send anything because Hope’s father would have discovered everything then and learned about her plans.

  A slight pang she felt any time she remembered she left her home without leaving any word, which would certainly drive her parents mad with worry, was ignored since she had pressing matters to deal with.

  “I did not change my mind,” she stated, for his benefit as much as her own.

  “And I am truly blessed because of that. Everything turned out for the best in the end.” Hope could not agree with his words wholeheartedly. Something wasn’t quite right, and she was resolved to learn the truth. She could not live any other way. Jessamine meant a great deal to her so this matter had to be resolved. As soon as possible.

  “I have to admit that after hearing you confirm to me what I already suspected, that Jessamine never came to your farm, I am starting to be a bit concerned as to why she failed to do that. And even if she was prevented in some fashion, why did she not send any word to me and explain that?”

  Hope was more than a bit worried. However, she had faith everything was just a misunderstanding that could be easily explained. And that was the only reason she remained somewhat calm since she did not want to raise panic without cause.

  A part of her kept nagging her. It is not like Jessamine at all to not keep a promise or be fickle in any way. Maybe something happened to her. Maybe she fell ill. Maybe something happened at their farm and her presence was crucial. There were plenty of maybes and Hope did not like any of them.

  Mr. Dalbow leaned forward, placed a hand over both of hers, and squeezed. “Do not worry, Miss Hope, we will go together to the Reynolds farm and find your friend safe and sound,” he promised. “And once you speak with her, learn what transpired, all will be well again.”

  “Truly?” Hope was excited by that prospect.

  He removed his hand and smiled. “Of course, we will go in a few days.”

  In a few days? Hope exclaimed inside her head. Why not tomorrow? And then she felt like slapping herself. Do not be so selfish, Hope, Mr. Dalbow was kind enough to offer his help yet he runs a ranch and is probably busy at the moment. You should be grateful, regardless. And she was.

  “Thank you, that means a great deal to me.” The Sheriff offered to take her, and Hope couldn't tell if she was saddened or grateful she wouldn't have to trouble him. All these thoughts and the pressure of meeting Mr. Dalbow were making her feel strange.

  “It will be my pleasure to settle this matter for you.”

  Having a plan, Hope finally started to relax, if only fractionally. She was in a stranger’s house, completely on her own. That would take time to overcome.

  A pregnant silence stretched between them. He looked at her as if not believing she was actually real and in front of him. It made Hope feel uncomfortable. As far as she was concerned, it was far too early for such a display of affection.

  “You have a lovely home,” Hope complimented, needing to break the silence, emphasizing her words with glances around her.

  “Thank you,” he recovered quickly. “My father built it when I was six years old.”

  “So you were not born here?”

  “Oh no, we came from Boston...” as Mr. Dalbow settled to tell his tale, Hope did as well and listened, intently. She liked the way he spoke. Hope would never guess he was a rancher by the sound of him, not that she had something against it. Hope thought that it was a fine and honest job. It was just that he spoke as though he was holding a lecture in Hope’s former school. Hope already knew he was well educated, he shared as much in his letter, she was just surprised he chose to return to the farm after his parents passed away. And would be lying if she said his mannerisms did not cause her a certain amount of nostalgia for her home.

  “That is quite a tale,” Hope said eventually when he finished speaking of his parents, seeing that was expected of her.

  He smiled, then smacked himself on the knee. “Look at me, talking and talking without a pause or any sense.”

  Hope was confused by his outburst; then he explained.

  “You must be exhausted from your long journey. Would you prefer to rest first or share a meal with me?” he offered. “Although I have to warn you, my culinary skills are rather limited.”

  They were still better than hers since she had none. Nevertheless, an invitation to eat was appealing, especially since that loaf of bread she ate in the town was all she had in a long time. However, the opportunity to actually lay down for a while and rest without all the rocking sounded divine. Hope shared as much.

  “I would prefer to rest for a bit. If that is all right.”

  “Of course, of course,” he jumped up to his feet instantly. She followed suit in a much calmer way. Suddenly she felt bone tired.

  “This way,” he beckoned her out of the living room and into the lobby. Then he started climbing the stairs to the upper level. Reaching it, he stopped in front of the first door.

  “I prepared this room for you,” he explained, opening the door.

  “It was my sister’s room before she married and moved away,” he added.

  Mr. Dalbow carried her bag inside and placed it next to the bed. Hope entered as well and looked about. It was a rather small room with only the essentials in it. There was a single bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. Hope realized she did not require anything else. And it was of such a lovely color. The walls were done in shades of violet and pink. The rug followed the same color scheme, as well.

  “I hope you like it. I bought fresh sheets for you.” As she noticed before, their pattern complimented the rest of the room perfectly.

  “Thank you,” Hope was touched. She could not believe how much her perception of everything changed in mere months. Her Maria had a bigger room than this in her parent’s house and yet Hope did not mind. At all.

  Besides, it’s just a room to sleep in, what else could I possibly need?

  An image of her own bedroom came to mind and she ignored it. There was no point in dwelling on the past. This was her reality now, she might as well accept it, and enjoy it. The room Mr. Dalbow chose for her was more than adequate. Hope was certain she would finally have a good night’s rest here. She truly did not require anything else.

  “My room is downstairs, just left from the staircase,” he explained. “You can reach out to me if you need anything at all.”

  Hope simply smiled and nodded. “I am sure I will be fine,” she said as he continued to look at her.

  “All right. I’ll leave you to it then,” he started toward the door then reconsidered. “After your rest, we will have a nice supper. I hope you like ribs.”

  “Of course.”

  He started to exit. Once again he lingered. Clearly, he was stalling because he had something important to say and couldn’t find proper words, or so Hope believed. She waited for him to make up his mind.

  Mr. Dalbow returned to stand in front of her. “Miss Hope,” he took both her hands in his, and kissed them. “Thank you for coming. I cannot express what this means
to me,” he looked utterly overcome with emotion and Hope was so startled she did not know what to say. Luckily, he apparently did not need her to speak, simply to listen. “I will make sure you do not regret your decision,” he vowed, releasing her after giving her hands a squeeze. With that, he finally left.

  “Have pleasant dreams,” he wished, closing the door behind him. Once she was left to her own devices, Hope sat on the bed in a daze. This was a rather tiring day. Actually, it was a tiring journey and overall a tiring year. Hope did not have to go into such details. There was no point in going on about all that.

  Mr. Dalbow was far better than she expected, a bit strange, he clearly had no problems expressing his emotions and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  That went rather well, she thought to herself and giggled. And she did not even know why. She was suddenly so relieved everything turned out all right. Granted, she was still worried about Jessamine. That will soon be remedied as well, she reminded herself.

  Not bothering with unpacking, Hope took her shoes off and lay properly on the bed on top of the covers, remaining fully clothed. She let out a sound of utmost pleasure. This feels really good, her whole body sang, having the soft bed underneath her. To be able to sleep in this way, without all the rocking, felt like a luxury she forgot about.

  Hope thought she would have trouble sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar house. As it turned out, Hope instantly fell asleep. The slumber she had was not a peaceful one. Her dreams were full of bandits chasing her through the desert. That was not the worse part, her father was there as well, dragging Kristopher Hewitt and a priest with him.

  Hope ran and ran, barefoot over the heated earth, unfortunately, they were gaining on her and she was getting tired by the second. They will catch me. She panicked.

  She could see Mr. Dalbow’s house in the distance with him waving at her, so she slightly changed course and started running toward him. She was sure he would provide assistance to her. As she looked back to her pursuers, she tripped over a log that appeared out of nowhere. Hope fell down hard, hurting her ankle.

  No, she started to scream as the men started to close in on her. No, I will not go with you, she shouted.

  Suddenly a rider appeared, pushing her attackers away. She couldn’t see him clearly, apart from his eyes, because of the sun. The rider stopped in front of her, offering his hand, and she knew she was saved. Hope managed to get up, accepting what was offered with tears in her eyes.

  Hope woke up and gasped for air. That was disturbing, she thought, rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes. Not the chasing part, she had variations of such a dream for weeks now. The part about her savior was what stayed with her long after she fully awoke. She could never forget those eyes. They were rich brown that resembled dark molten honey in the sunlight. They were the eyes of none other than Sheriff Owen Rundell.

  Oh, my...

  12

  A couple of days had passed since Hope arrived at Mr. Dalbow’s—Wyatt’s, she corrected herself for the hundredth time—ranch. It didn’t take long for her to discover how much she was lacking, to put it mildly. Truth be told, she was proven to be utterly useless where any kind of labor was concerned.

  On a ranch like this one, where they broke wild horses after rounding them up, it did not matter if she could recite Shakespeare in characters, or parts of the Bible in perfect Latin. What did matter was that she did not know how to cook, or clean properly, or do anything else for that matter, that would be expected of a woman in such a household. That was not to suggest Mr. Dalbow was pressuring her, it was simply that Hope wanted to contribute as much as possible.

  Hope realized how much her father was right, to her dismay. She did live a rather sheltered life, however, she was decided she would learn. Hope was very good at that, thanks to her father once again, so she vowed to do her best and show Mr. Dalbow her appreciation as he was very kind to her.

  I can achieve whatever I want, she gave herself a little encouraging speech while trying to wash one of her skirts. In the back yard, a large wooden barrow was already in place with the washing board on it for such usage, so she heated some water and went to work, soaking her clothes first before lathering them with soap.

  The bar of soap she used smelled very different from the ones she used back home. It was hard and smelled like ash and lard. The ones she had at home were always scented and smelled of lavender, roses or her favorite, freesia. Since she never washed clothes before, only herself, Hope was surprised by the difference.

  In the end, she was damper than the skirt in question and her hands ached, reddened by the hard treatment they were put through. Hope was still satisfied with what she accomplished, knowing that was the first time she tried.

  I washed my own clothes, if Mother could see me now, she thought and grinned.

  Hope never backed down from a challenge and was not going to start now. Luckily, Mr. Dalbow was very patient and kind to her. He remained positive and encouraging even though Hope constantly made mistakes. In fact, he did not want Hope to strain herself or do anything, always offering to do what needed to be done himself. It was just that Hope did not want to live like that. Not anymore. So here she was, trying to wrench the excess water from the clothes she was wearing.

  This way, I washed the skirt that is on me as well, she joked. It was rather important not to lose a sense of humor while trying and failing. Hope did not want to end up mad or worse.

  When I see Jessamine, I will ask her to help me, give me advice on how to do things properly, Hope decided, realizing she could not learn everything on her own. Thinking of her friend reminded her how a couple of days passed since she talked with Mr. Dalbow about visiting the Reynolds family. And they still hadn’t. Since then, he did not mention Jessamine or visiting the farm so Hope wanted to ask him herself if he changed his mind.

  She understood he was a busy man, saw with her own two eyes how much he worked on the farm, yet she could not delay this much longer since not knowing was killing her. Making sure she looked presentable, Hope went outside in search of her host. She found Mr. Dalbow in the stables.

  He smiled the instant he spotted her. “Good morning, Miss Hope.”

  “Good morning to you, too.”

  “Slept well?”

  “Indeed I did, and you?”

  “Like a newborn, in these last couple of days, thank you for asking.” The implications she had something to do with his easy slumber was apparent.

  As the pleasantries were exchanged, Hope realized Mr. Dalbow was actually saddling a horse and that got her hopes up. Are we finally going to find Jessamine? Then she noticed something else, he was tending to only one horse.

  “Are you going somewhere?”

  “Ah, yes, unfortunately,” he replied with a deep sigh. “I was just about to come and find you. I have to leave out of town for business.”

  Hope’s whole face fell. The sudden business trip would mean they could not go visit the Reynolds today.

  “I will be back tomorrow, or the day after that, the latest,” he reassured her, misunderstanding her reaction. “And do not worry about provisions. There is an ample amount of everything in the cellar.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, trying not to look too glum. It was not the end of the world if she had to wait a couple of days more.

  It certainly feels like it.

  “Feel free to roam about the ranch while I’m gone. One word of caution, don’t try to ride Gustav,” he pointed at the appropriate stall, “he is still a bit wild. Other than that, my house is your house,” he offered generously. She simply nodded.

  He approached her, a deep frown on his face. “Are you all right?”

  Hope decided to explain herself so there would be no more misunderstandings between them. “I was hoping we would visit Jessamine today.”

  Mr. Dalbow nodded, clearly understanding everything. “Trust me, Miss Hope. I did not forget. That was my plan as well,” he sighed. “We will go look
for your friend as soon as I get back,” he promised.

  “Very well,” Hope replied simply.

  He continued to look at her as if not satisfied by what he was seeing. She tried to keep her emotions in check. It was hard. Jessamine was too important to her.

  “I apologize if this is putting additional stress unto you, however, this meeting is rather urgent and I cannot postpone it,” he confessed, and Hope appreciated his honesty and his apparent concern about her.

  “I understand. Sometimes, business matters have to come first.” Or in her father’s case, always. Hope was glad Mr. Dalbow was not that kind of man all the time.